Linda Burch

Linda leads Common Sense's education, new program, and strategy development efforts. She brings deep experience in management and governance of early stage companies and nonprofit organizations to this role. She has dealt with the practical aspects of launching new products, negotiating partnerships, and building new ventures from the ground up, as well as broader strategic questions related to how to diversify and grow. She was senior vice president of business development and corporate planning at SyStemix, a biotechnology company that she helped build and then sold to Novartis. Previously, Linda was a strategic management consultant at McKinsey & Company in New York from 1985 to 1990, where she served health care and consumer products companies. Prior to that she spent five years in investment banking at Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch, where she negotiated joint ventures between U.S. technology companies and the People's Republic of China. Linda received her M.B.A. from Stanford University and her bachelor's degree summa cum laude from Yale. She has two kids who love media almost as much as they love being outside.